Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

God Is King

93 The Lord rules. He is dressed with great power. The Lord has dressed Himself with strength. For sure, the world is built to last. It will not be moved. ² Your throne is set up from long ago. You have always been. ³ The floods have lifted up, O Lord. The floods have lifted up their voice. The floods lift up their beating waves. ⁴ The Lord on high is more powerful than the sound of many waters and the strong waves of the sea. ⁵ Your Word is very sure. O Lord, Your house is holy forever.

God’s Chosen People

7 “The Lord your God will bring you into the land you are taking for your own. He will drive away many nations in front of you, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations bigger and stronger than you. ² When the Lord your God gives them to you and you win the battles against them, you must destroy all of them. Make no agreement with them and show no favor to them. ³ Do not take any of them in marriage. Do not give your daughters to their sons. And do not take their daughters for your sons. ⁴ For they will turn your sons away from following Me to serve other gods. Then the anger of the Lord will burn against you. And He will be quick to destroy you. ⁵ But do this to them: Break down their altars. Crush their objects of worship. Cut down their female goddess Asherim. And burn their false gods with fire.

⁶ “For you are a holy nation to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you out of all the nations on the earth, to be His own. ⁷ The Lord did not give you His love and choose you because you were more people than any of the nations. For the number of your people was less than all nations. ⁸ But it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the promise He made to your fathers. So the Lord brought you out by a strong hand. He set you free from the land where you were servants, and from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. ⁹ Know then that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God. He keeps His promise and shows His loving-kindness to those who love Him and keep His Laws, even to a thousand family groups in the future. ¹⁰ But He destroys those who hate Him. He will not show kindness to the one who hates Him, but will punish him to his face. ¹¹ So keep and obey all the Laws I am telling you today.

Fight the Good Fight of Faith

¹¹ But you, man of God, turn away from all these sinful things. Work at being right with God. Live a God-like life. Have faith and love. Be willing to wait. Have a kind heart. ¹² Fight the good fight of faith. Take hold of the life that lasts forever. You were chosen to receive it. You have spoken well about this life in front of many people.